This is an article I wrote back in High School and just feel like sharing. It's not my best work but it's kind of interesting.
12/13/2001 English III
What does it mean to be human? This, a question with over a million possible answers, it just depends on who you ask. In the book, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” (D.A.D.O.E.S) by Philip K. Dick, Philip Dick challenges our definitions of humanity.
From page 3 to 244 Philip Dick challenges our humanity. The first thing that comes to some people’s mind when they are asked what is it to be human is, the ability to make the choice of what mood you want to be in for the day. Well in chapter one of D.A.D.O.E.S Rick and Iran are arguing about what to dial in the mood organ, which means people have to use a machine to get in the right mood. This mood organ allows you to schedule your different moods for the whole day, which means you don’t get to decide what kind of mood you want to be in at different times or if different events occur, which means you lose the opportunity to make decisions for yourself, and isn’t making decisions a part of being human? The mood organ also has to be used to make arguments nastier than they already are. An example of this is when Iran says, “If you dial for greater venom, then I’ll dial the same. I’ll dial the maximum and you’ll see a fight that makes every argument we’ve had up to now seem like nothing.” See, now that’s not humanlike because as humans we have never had to use a machine to have an argument, it just comes to us naturally.
Philip Dick believes to be human you have to look for this higher being to believe in, and in D.A.D.O.E.S this being is Mercer. Mercer is like a god and to be human you must believe in some kind of higher being. Mercer helped everyone, or made them feel better; then the androids proved hat he was a fraud, but they were yet to find out that proving him as a fraud would change nothing. On page 234 Rick says “Mercer isn’t a fake, unless reality is a fake.” This would be like if god was proved to be a fraud, there would be a change in many people’s lives, but for most nothing would change, because god is the supposed one who created reality and without a god there is o reality, so many people would still believe in god, because there is reality.
To be human also means to love nature, and to love nature, is to love animals. Animals are nearly extinct, well real animals anyway, and every human left on the planet wants a real animal. Rick’s main goal in life is to own a real animal. Owning an animal makes people happy, and they understand the importance of animals, unlike the androids who don’t understand the importance of animals.
D.A.D.O.E.S is a book that makes us stop and think about what it means to be human, and author Philip K. Dick does an excellent job of making us think.
“The Matrix” is a movie that doesn’t question our humanity, but questions our perception on what is normal.
When Morpheus and Neo enter the matrix for the first time together Neo say “This isn’t real” and Morpheus responds with “What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, taste, hear or smell, then real is just electrical signals interpreted by your brain.” This is a clear definition of what real is.
The definition Morpheus gives us on what is real, tells us, the mind gets to decide what reality is, but our mind can be tricked by electrical signals. Our hopes and dreams also affect our reality, which causes what we see as normal to change.
The movie doesn’t come out and say this, but it implies it. Neo plans on rescuing Morpheus, that is his goal, he is so intent on doing so he believes he can dodge bullets and take on three agents, and he does. To do these things though, he has to believe in the impossible, which makes him change his reality, and when he changes his reality he change what is seen as normal.
The little boy bending the spoon, shows Neo that sometimes things are not always what they seem, and sometimes you have to believe that something isn’t there. The boy tells Neo, “Remember, there is no spoon,” then he says “You are not bending the spoon, but you are actually bending yourself.” These words allow Neo to bend the spoon, or he thinks he bent the spoon, when in actuality he bent nothing.
The Matrix makes you think about what is real and what isn’t. After watching this movies, some wonder what really would of happened if Neo had taken the blue pill.
